John Miller had an awfully big job Wednesday at the White River National Fish Hatchery in Bethel, Vt. "One-hundred twenty-two fish, yeah!" he chuckled.

The 10-year-old came all the way from Presque Isle in northern Maine to the central Vermont town of Bethel to do a little fishing. "It's really nice and it's really good," Miller said.

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Miller is a member of the Aroostook Band of Micmacs. The Native American tribe took away about 1,000 pounds of fresh Atlantic salmon from the hatchery. "Rather than having to bury the fish, you know," sighed Ken Gillette, with the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service.

The federal facility had feared it would have to destroy some of its fish after one of the worst disasters in Vermont history. Two and a half months ago, the White River rose several feet and became a raging monster because of Tropical Storm Irene. She left the river banks a mess, and the floodwaters carried mud, dirt, rocks, and other trash, depositing it in the hatchery.

About 60,000 lake trout and Atlantic salmon were killed in the flooding, mostly because of the mud, Gillette said. "[It was discouraging] when we came here a day after, to see fish lying all over the facility," he added.

Testing is now underway on the 450,000 surviving trout to see if the flooding exposed them to an invasive algae called didymo or "rock snot." Its presence could prevent wildlife officials from releasing the trout into the Great Lakes and other waterways to restore fish populations. Conservation groups would not want to transport the algae from the White River to other waterways, where it could bloom and expand.

As for the 8,000 remaining salmon, the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service is donating them to Native Americans. Even if they were contaminated with didymo, the salmon are still edible, because the algae is not toxic to humans.

The Micmacs were excited to get the salmon. "It's not a food the tribe gets to enjoy very often," explained Micmac natural resources spokesman Fred Corey.

Corey explained that his tribe had hoped to serve a traditional meal at a tribal celebration this weekend in Maine honoring the band's twentieth anniversary of federal recognition. D.J. Monette, the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service's liaison to Native American tribes in the Northeast, helped connect the Micmacs with the hatchery when he learned of their planned feast. It would have cost thousands of dollars to serve salmon, and they could only find frozen Chilean fish, Corey said.

The Atlantic variety is not just fresher, but more fitting for the Native Americans' meal. "It's local from New England, so it's even better than you can purchase in the store," Corey said of the hatchery's salmon gift.

With the fish out of their holding tanks, the Fish & Wildlife Service can continue disinfecting the facility. It has many significant repairs to make, including to water handling systems.

The salmon donation is perhaps one small silver lining to Irene, as Vermont keeps finding creative ways to deal with the mess and start on the path toward a stronger future. "I got fish and had a lot of fun!" John Miller beamed.